


That conversation we've all had

by Anonymous



Series: Steve Does Fanfiction [5]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Writing & Publishing, And probably a bit of a hypocrite, Bruce Is a Good Bro, Characters Writing Fanfiction, Dialogue-Only, Insecurity, M/M, Social Commentary, You know that thing you always hear about your fanfiction writing?, exactly, on AO3, poor steve
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-22
Updated: 2014-10-22
Packaged: 2018-02-22 04:16:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2494076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve struggles with the notion that writing fanfiction is without purpose.</p>
            </blockquote>





	That conversation we've all had

 

 

“I’m wasting my time, aren’t I Bruce?”

“Trying to get Tony to switch to decaf? Most likely.”

“No – well yes, that too – but I mean… writing. The fanfiction. I’m wasting my time writing fanfiction.”

“Are you?”

“It doesn’t serve a purpose.”

“It doesn’t?”

“Does it? It doesn’t go anywhere or, you know, do anything. I’m not bettering the world by typing up a couple of paragraphs and posting them on a website-.”

“In defense of your work, they’re usually more than just a few paragraphs.”

“-and they’re not even mine. The characters; I didn’t build any of them. I didn’t come up with their names, or their backgrounds, or even their personalities.”

“You came up with the plots.”

“So? What’s a plot with no originality inside of it, Bruce? Nothing. It serves no purpose.”

“… Did you know there are volunteers who dress up in costumes of your uniform to go and visit sick children all over the country?”

“I-what?”

“There are several that dress up as the rest of the team, too – and even some Hulks, isn’t that interesting? – but most of them dress as you. They go to visit those kids to make them smile, to make them happy. They don’t earn money from it, and they also, obviously, do not own the person they are portraying. Does that mean that what they’re doing is a waste of time?”

“Of course not!”

“Some people think it is.”

“That’s not-.”

“Some people think it is, just like some people, who you have obviously heard, think that writing fanfiction is.”

“It’s not the same, Bruce. I don’t write to make kids happy. I write because… because I want to. I don’t do it for the greater good of the world or wha-”

“Someone once commented on one of my stories that something I had a main character say stopped her from committing suicide that night.”

“…”

“That line, the one that did that for her? It meant nothing to me. It literally just sounded like something the character would say at that time, so that’s what I wrote. But for her, that reader? It was life-changing. She went on to thank me, posted about it on her blog, added all these little smiley faces to it above a post from the previous night that talked about wanting to take her mother’s sleeping pills.”

“God.”

“An extremely wise and humble man once said, “what you do will be insignificant, but it is important that you do it”. So if it doesn’t matter to you why you write, though it matters to me, because I see what writing does for you, how you relax with it, how you feel better after you’ve completed something – then consider what you could possibly be doing for someone else. Nothing you do, at any point, is without purpose just because you can’t _see_ the purpose. Not even because someone else said it was.

“Now go write.”


End file.
